Last weekend I went to Austin Texas for the annual South By Southwest music conference... a few observations: people know about the Y100 story. Everywhere I went, not only did people in the music industry stop me to talk about it, but many have been listening from afar and were digging what they heard on Y100Rocks.com. I was a little embarrassed to be airchecked by a friend from Cali (you tend to forget the internet is World Wide!), but it was great to hear that they are all out there rooting for us. The other thing I learned was that yes, Mildred, Rockandroll is still alive! At SXSW something like 1300 bands and 25,000 fans converge on Austin... Austin is a great town - with at least 50 venues within a few blocks and music spilling out all over the streets... there are day shows, night shows, late night hangs, etc. I was exhausted just from walking venue to venue in search of the elusive great set. Here's the bands I saw in 3 days, in order:


Johnny Panic (UK punk/pop - pretty great)

Pedro the Lion (great - vox sounds like Lemonheads a bit)

Tegan and Sarah (twin lesbian sisters from Canada? I'm in!)

the Kills (angry boy/girl duo - like the Fall meets PJ Harvey)

Trashcan Sinatras (before there was Keane/Travis/Coldplay... and the new album is awesome)

Clem Snide (US indie rock in matching country suits)

B.C. Camplight (Philly's own! I'm gonna get the record on at Y100rocks - VERY Ben Folds Five like, in style and humor)

Vic Chestnutt (he may be in a wheelchair, but that doesn't stop the rock)

Kaiser Chiefs (mix Blur, Specials, XTC, Franz, and a pinch of the Clash - I loved it!)

Bitter Bitter Weeks (my favorite Philadelphia artist... singer/songwriter with soul and grace)

the Ark (Swedish Darkness?)

Freebleeder (local Austin punks - chubby dudes with mohawks! I bought the CD)

Mary Lou Lord (she may have slept with Cobain, but she busks outside the Driskill Hotel 5 hours per night evey year - I love her - she covered Straight To Hell)

Dr. Dog (another Philly fave - they have gotten amazing live... another one I need to get the CD on the air from )

Murder By Death (incredible! screamo meets Nick Cave? but no, it really works... and the cellist is C-U-T-E)

Underoath (I don't get the music - but it makes the Used seem like boyband wimps, and the live show smoked with intensity)

Trashcan Sinatras (again, I went to a party with Stuff girls, and they were playing... two great tastes that work together...)

Ben Lee (aw, he's great. the kind of guy you meet a few times and it feels like he is a friend - go get his new album NOW - it's great!)

some random Austin bands that I don't remember...

Koufax (finally coming back! I love love love them. Y-Not faves of Dan and mine... if you like hot hot heat...)

So that was a pretty good sampler. And that was going totally ghetto - I flew down on freq flyer miles and crashed at a friend's couch and only went to shows I could get in to w/out a badge (the badge costs about $300, I ended up spending about $60 on covers, the rest were all free) - missing Queeens, Bravery, Louis XiV, Hot Hot Heat, New York Dolls, etc.
SXSW is a great weekend for music junkies. For three days the universe is perfect, everyone is hip, and if we close our eyes, it feels like Nickelback never existed. I recommend it to any music fans any year...

Jim